Joel Reese doesn’t just practice law—he helps shape it.
Over the past thirty years, Joel has played a pivotal role in defining Texas jurisprudence. His cases have set the standard for electronic discovery in Texas, redefined the rules governing class certification, and reshaped the criteria for common law nuisance claims. In 2024, Joel became the first lawyer in Texas to prevail in a hearing before the newly established Texas Business Court—a decision that was later followed by multiple Business Court judges.
In 2025, Joel and his RM colleagues secured a $52 million judgment against Energy Transfer after a five-week trial in Pennsylvania involving the sale of a gas gathering system. That victory followed a $112 million partial summary judgment win—also against Energy Transfer—in a separate case in Dallas, which was later settled in 2025. These wins contributed to Joel’s recognition as a Law360 2025 Energy MVP.
Joel has a long track record of high-stakes, high-profile wins. He successfully defended a multibillion-dollar consumer class action that spanned eight years and made national headlines on CBS Nightly News with Dan Rather, ultimately prevailing in the Texas Supreme Court and the New Mexico state district court. He also secured summary judgment in a $40 million investor fraud casebrought by billionaire T. Boone Pickens—a case that drew national attention in BusinessWeek—and upheld the win on appeal before the Fifth Circuit.
In 2015, Joel won a jury verdict in a securities fraud trial against Southwest Securities Secuirites following a three-week jury trial reported by the Dallas Morning News. In 2020, he resolved two related oil and gas lawsuits for $13.85 million as one of the largest unsecured creditors of Whiting Oil and Gas.
Joel has been repeatedly recognized by his peers and the press. He was recently named to the 2026 Lawdragon 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know and Lawdragon’s 500 Winning Plaintiff Financial Litigators over the last two years. D Magazine named him one of the Top 15 Business Defense Lawyers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Thomson Reuters has selected him as a Texas Super Lawyer for over a decade. He holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest distinction. Still, Joel is most proud of the firm’s collective achievements, including its recognition as a Law360 2025 Trials Practice Group of the Year and its selection as Texas Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer in 2013—just two years after its founding.
